• Stream: And So I Watch You From Afar – Redesigned A Million Times

    April 15, 2015 - By 

    A few days on from playing new material to a handful of fans and friends at a secret show in Belfast, And So I Watch You From Afar are streaming the triumphant ‘Redesigned A Million Times’. Taken from their new album, Heirs, is track has a distinctly more linear, pop-centric feel to previous material, whilst maintaining some of the classic hallmarks of the Northern Irish quartet’s sound. ASIWYFA play Dublin’s Olympia on June 19 and Belfast’s Mandela Hall on June 20 as part of a massive European tour. Go here to win tickets to the former show.

  • Watch: SOAK – Blud

    April 15, 2015 - By 

    With her debut album, Before We Forgot How To Dream, set for release via Rough Trade on June 1, SOAK has unveiled the video for ‘Blud’. Capturing different aspects of the Derry’s artist’s recent skatepark tour and more, the release is the second version of the video, the first, pre-Rough Trade video being released last year. Win tickets to SOAK’s Belfast show at the Empire on June 10 here.

  • I Am The Cosmos Set for Belfast Debut

    April 16, 2015 - By 

    Dublin electronic duo Cian Murphy and Ross Turner AKA I Am The Cosmos have announced their debut Belfast show on Saturday, May 23. The pair will play the free-entry Chromatic at the new-fangled Woodworkers. Choosing to make rare live appearances and having signed a deal with Faber Music, IATC are working on a follow-up album in Dublin’s National Concert Hall as part of the Artists in Residence project. Establishing itself as one of the city’s finest regular gig nights, Chromatic has already played host to Girls Names, Sleep Thieves, Jape, Go Wolf and Sleep Thieves. Photos by Dorje De Burgh.

  • Sea Sessions Announce New Acts

    April 14, 2015 - By 

    Ireland’s self-proclaimed “biggest beach party”, Sea Sessions returns to Bundoran from Friday 19 to Sunday June 21. Joining the likes of already-confirmed acts including Seasick Steve, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Le Galaxie, Jape and R.S.A.G. are new additions The Riptide Movement, Black Grape, Interskalactic, Little Hours, The Whereabouts, The Winters and Half of Me. Ray O’Donoghue, Festival Director says, “We’re thrilled with the latest announcement. The Riptide Movement are one of the hottest live acts out there and Shaun Ryder’s Black Grape have a 20th anniversary tour happening. This will be his second time at Sea Sessions. Alongside all the great…

  • Premiere: Robocobra Quartet – Wicker Bar

    April 14, 2015 - By 

    Set for release on April 21, Bomber by Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet captures a band whose brilliantly burgeoning sound gets more engrossing and self-assured with each release. Following on the heels of agog lead single ”80-88′, the brief but burrowing ‘Wicker Bar’ is a more inward-looking, abstracted affair, the band’s drummer/vocalist Chris Ryan meditating on backwashed thoughts and distant scenes, relaying beat-inflected stylings over dancing sax and a floating, spectral vocal ensemble courtesy of Patrick Gardiner. Sub-titled “four songs about three people, two novels, a failed assassination attempt and a volunteer-run community arts space” the EP was recorded by Ryan at Belfast’s Start Together…

  • Watch: Villagers – Everything I Am Yours

    April 13, 2015 - By 

    Showing one man’s sad spiral of rejection on city streets, Villagers’ video for ‘Everything I Am Yours’ is a harrowing yet remarkably touching supplement to one of the highlights from their new album, Darling Arithmetic. Directed by Jeremy Thraves – responsible for videos for the likes of Radiohead’s Just, Blur’s Charmless Man and Sam Smith’s Stay With Me – the video cuts between the aforementioned struggle – one man’s desire for love and to be loved – and footage of Conor O’Brien performing the song on guitar, drums and piano. Make sure to check out our main interview feature with O’Brien in the current issue of…

  • Q+A: Princess

    April 9, 2015 - By 

    One of our featured 15 for ’15 acts, Dublin noise-pop duo Princess are truly riding the crest of a wave at the minute. Ahead of shows at Belfast’s Woodworkers on Saturday, April 11 (free), Galway’s Roisin Dubh on April 16 and Limerick’s Kasbah Social Club the following night, we chat to Liam Mesbur from the band about their increasingly enthralling sound and direction. Hi guys. I remember featuring ‘Tortured Wings’ in a BBC Ulster radio segment two years ago. Your sounds has really developed since then. What do you owe that to? When we did that tune it was myself writing everything and…

  • Indiependence Announce New Acts

    April 9, 2015 - By 

    Several new acts have been added to the bill for this year’s Indiependence festival, which is set to return to Deer Farm in Mitchelstown, Cork, across the weekend of July 31 to August 2. With the likes of the Mark Lanegan Band, Ash and Jape already confirmed, Basement Jaxx, Kodaline, Hamsandwich, Foy Vance, The Young Folk and Elastic Sleep (pictured) are amongst the latest additions. With more acts set to be announced, check out the current line-up below and go here to buy tickets for the festival.